Closing the Furniture Skills Gap

The MakeIT! Furniture initiative aims to encourage students to consider a career in furniture. Renee Mascari was a judge at the recent awards ceremony and spoke to Paul Preston of Proskills about how it is helping develop design talent
By: Danielle O'Sullivan
 
July 22, 2011 - PRLog -- Paul Preston: Are schools teaching students the skills they need to work in the furniture industry?

Renee Mascari: There is a skills shortage in the Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom (KBB) industry, and in my opinion there should definitely be more of a focus on encouraging young students to take up vocational training and develop craft skills at school.
Programmes like MakeIT! Furniture are very important in this context, as they introduce students to major design challenges and encourage them to develop their creative skills. We desperately need young people to take up design challenges, as that’s what lies at the core of product development.
As CEO of the Kitchen, Bedrooms, Bathrooms National Training Group (KBBNTG) I love working with young students and discovering new talent, and it is vital to get young people involved in the kitchen furniture industry if it is to have a sustainable future.

PP: How did you yourself get into the industry? Was it quite hard to take the first step on the career ladder?

RM: When I started out in the industry vocational training was a lot stronger than it is now. Schools used to teach skills which would lead students into the creative industries, but over the years this kind of vocational training has fallen away, and I’d very much like to see it brought back.

PP: Is that why you decided to get involved in MakeIT! Furniture?

RM: Yes. My remit as CEO of the KBBNTG is to develop education and training throughout the sector - that includes introducing it as a career option to students and giving them insights into the kitchen furniture industry.
MakeIT! Furniture is very much a consultative programme. As an experienced designer it’s all about the brief to me and whilst you are trying to create something unique, at the end of the day it’s still got to be commercially viable.
Closer links between schools and industry are very important in this regard. Such links will help students get a better understanding of what is required to make a product commercial and sustainable.

PP: Is designing a piece of furniture quite a collaborative process?  

RM: Every designer likes to consider themselves an individual. But in my experience inspiration normally comes from examples of good design that are already out there. So whilst you do want it to be individual, most design is built on inspiration from something that the designer has seen.

PP: Is that something you’d stress to young students? Is it important for designers to build on their everyday experience?

RM: Yes. I teach classes on the principles of kitchen design, and one of the questions I’m continually asked is ‘where do you start?’
I always say – ‘from inspiration’. You’ve got to research your subject – it could be from nature, it could be something you’ve seen, done or tried. Observation is a very important part of the design process, I think you’ve got to teach that to students.

PP: Does MakeIT! furniture help teach the importance of collaboration and teamwork?

RM: Yes. It most definitely does – all design requires discipline, and collaboration and teamwork is vital to getting the product to market. Good designers work in teams – you see your product through – so you need to be able to work together.
A designer has to be quite precise and meticulous, but you also have to collaborate in having the product actually made. You can lock yourself away in a room to design a kitchen furniture product, but you still need to collaborate with people to make it a reality.

PP: Are these quite important skills for other professions as well? Can MakeIT! Furniture encourage students to be more precise and meticulous in all areas of their work?

RM: I’ve had students on my course who’ve thought: ‘I’m not creative, I can’t do this’. But actually, with a little bit of tuition it’s amazing how you can extract creativity out of them. I think that’s what these competitions like MakeIT! Furniture do – they stretch the students and draw out their creative abilities.

PP: Do the creative industries have a major role to play in boosting economic recovery?

RM: I think the creative industries have a massive role to play. Without good design, how can areas like manufacturing, fashion and retail grow? It all starts from the creative process.

PP: How can we enhance the status of the furniture industry? What role does the MakeIT! Furniture programme have to play?

RM: We’ve got to get young people interested in design and it needs to be promoted in school so that children are aware of it as a potential career option. We already work with a 14-16 diploma group in a school in Nottingham and there are some positive results coming out of that. We’re introducing career options into schools - if we didn’t do this work then students would know nothing about the kitchen furniture industry.

PP: How is the furniture industry viewed by the public as a whole? Do young people see it as a viable career option?

RM: I think young people see the furniture industry as being all about sofas and chairs, I don’t think they see it as the exciting industry it is.
MakeIT! Furniture can help change this perception. Students suddenly realise they can be involved in creating something completely different and challenging, and perhaps more relevant to their generation than three-piece suites.

PP: How would you like MakeIT! Furniture to develop over the coming years?

RM: Well, I’d certainly like to see it continue. From my point of view I’d like to get the kitchen industry a little more involved. Bathroom furniture in particular is really taking off.
Building closer links between schools and industry is very important – that way the student gets a good understanding of what is required to make a product commercial and sustainable and to ensure there is a market for it.
We need to combine creativity with commercial awareness. It’s good to go into schools and encourage students to express themselves, but it’s also important to engage with employers so that they are also aware of commercial realities.    
We need to engage both schools and employers in MakeIT! Furniture, that’s how we can promote design as a career option.

For further information on the MakeIT! Furniture programme, and how you can get involved, contact the MakeIT! Furniture Team at Proskills on 01235 432018 or makeitfurniture@proskills.co.uk
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Notes to Editors:
About Proskills:
Proskills UK is the bridge between employers and Government on skills and training. Employer-led by nine key industries, Building Products, Coatings, Extractives, Furniture, Glass, Glazed Ceramics, Paper, Print and Wood industries which make a third of the UK manufacturing sector. Proskills UK helps to raise the profile and sets the skills standards and qualifications for the sector and ensures that the skills and funding delivers against the current and future needs of the industries.
About MakeIT! Furniture:
MakeIT! Furniture is an industry-based project and competition for schools, mapped to the national curriculum and Diplomas. It familiarises students with how furniture is designed and made in the Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors  Industry through researching and designing products, and investigating the various different aspects of the industry – from sourcing raw materials to producing finished products.

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Proskills UK is an employer-led organisation that represents the interests of the industries that make up the process and manufacturing sector to government.
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Source:Danielle O'Sullivan
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